Nikkei and Tokyo TV poll: Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi's cabinet approval fell 10 percentage points month-on-month to 58%, the first reading below 60% since she took office in October last year.

July saw rapid margin‑financing outflows, but regulatory support and onshore incremental funds have helped stabilise short‑term liquidity. External pressures — Middle East tensions lifting oil, higher US Treasury yields and renewed Fed hike expectations — have dented global risk appetite. CITIC says the AI sector’s mid‑to‑long‑term thesis remains intact: KimiK3 is reshaping the performance/cost narrative, expanding workflow coverage and accelerating vertical penetration, and Google’s counter‑trend capex increase supports a compute supply‑demand mismatch. Near term the market is likely to trade a W‑shaped bottom; investors should wait for external uncertainty to clear while rebalancing into low‑base areas with solid fundamentals and valuation‑recovery potential. Key focus: AI (upstream materials/equipment, domestic compute), midstream export manufacturing chains (new energy, machinery, shipbuilding), upstream resources and defensive dividend plays.

Israeli military says it killed two Hamas commanders and one intelligence officer in Gaza over the past week.